Gemini
by rudolphtherednoseddolly
Summary: It's been years since Max and the gang saved the world, but itex lives on, now a branch of the government. Unwanted children are sold to be mutated, trained, and made into bodyguards. Lure is 98% human. Piper is 100%. But they have a lot in common. R&R!
1. Prologue

Hey all! Check out my latest story, Solstice, co-written by FashionDiva7 (it's on her account). It's for all you Jacob Black fans.

Anyways, I do not and never will own Maximum Ride, yadda dada, you've seen a million disclaimers already and don't give a crap for what mine says.

And without further ado (I love that word), I present:

**Gemini **(I know, real creative)

**Rudolphtherednoseddolly**

**Prologue**

Dr. Levin was hunched over her desk, pen sprinting across a half-filled sheet of paper, when the knock came. She scowled and sat up, straightening her white lab coat. "Come in!" she called out.

A man in an identical white lab coat strolled in, clutching a packet of papers. "Dr. Martin!" exclaimed Dr. Levin, clearly surprised. "What brings you here?"

Dr. Martin held up the packet. "A new development in the egg we were going to mutate I thought you might find interesting."

Intrigued, Dr. Levin took the packet and began to scan it. Halfway through, she stopped and looked up.

"Twins?" she asked.

"Both girls." confirmed Dr. Martin.

"And the mother has already agreed to sell them?"

"As long as the money is doubled." said Dr. Martin. Dr. Levin nodded to herself.

"Accidental births?" she guessed.

"Their mother is sixteen." said Dr. Martin. Dr. Levin nodded again, studying a page. After another minute or so, she closed the packet and handed it back.

"I think these two will do just fine or my experiment." she said. "May I get a copy of these papers?"

"Certainly." said Dr. Martin. "And which one…?"

"The smaller will do just fine. Do you really think you can mutate one of the eggs without harming the other?"

Dr. Martin smiled. "Well, there's only one way to find out!" he said. Dr. Levin laughed and escorted him from the room.

"Thank you, Dr. Martin. I've been waiting a long time for this opportunity."

Dr. Martin nodded and scurried away down the hall, procedures and mathematical equations already running through his mind. Dr. Levin sat down at her desk and resumed her writing, the ghost of a smile etched upon her lips. Finally, it was her time to shine.


	2. Chapter 1

Like it? Love it? Well, I wouldn't know, would I, seeing as no one reviewed! I hope you people know that R&R means read and review- as in; you read it then review__it! *sighs* People these days…

**Gemini**

**Rudolphtherednoseddolly**

**Chapter One**

Lure lounged in her chair, feet propped up on her desktop. Chatter swelled around her as her fellow classmates prepared for their next class.

Her fellow mutants, that is.

Briefly she scanned the crowd of familiar faces, noting that every single kid had in the back of their shirts (well, the kids who wore shirts; some of the boys ditched the idea altogether) long slashes, through which feathers peeked occasionally. All the kids were 98% human, 2% avian- more commonly known as bird kids.

And one more thing most kids in this class had in common; they were all alone. The only person in the room who knew who their parents were was Jeya (her mom dropped by, leaving her with large amounts of cash to convince her to keep her mouth shut. Jeya's mom was a hugely famous pop star, a fact Jeya was exceedingly proud of, who couldn't afford to let the press know that she even had a daughter, much less one that she had sold as an egg to be mutated). They were all, however, accidents- babies that weren't supposed to happen, that weren't supposed to exist. In a way, thought Lure, they didn't. Once the egg turned into an actual mutant baby, the files containing the information of their parentage were burned. The only copies would stay with the actual parent, who may or may not choose to see their child. And most did not.

Lure tried to steer her thoughts away from parents; the subject tended to depress her. It wasn't like she really wanted to meet her mom- what kind of sick person would sell their kid to be mutated? Anyways, Lure would probably lose her temper and express her feelings a bit violently. She tended to do that often.

The door crashed open, causing everyone to jump and forgo their conversations for a later time. Their instructor, Char (named so because of the black smudges on her wingtips), strode in. She was one of the retired guardians who worked at Mercy Preparatory Academy, more commonly known among the students as Mutant Prep.

Mutants were classified into categories- Class A & Class B. Class A were all animal-related mutants, and Class B were genetically enhanced humans. Under each main category were several sub categories (for example, under Class A came classes A1, A2, A3, depending on how human or animal the mutant was). Lure was a Class A2 mutant, the most common one. It meant that while she would never fit in with normal human society, she could interact easily with it. Aka, she would someday be a guardian.

The vast majority of A2 mutants became guardians. These mutants used their skills to do anything they could to protect regular humans, even if it meant giving up their life. They'd been told since birth it was their duty to protect and serve humans, and Mutant Prep was a school that prepared them to do just that. It was a well-paying job and the easiest option for a mutant, who would never be able to live in normal society. Plus, added Lure, it was _cool_.

Without saying a word, Char walked over to the white board and wrote the word **Qualifiers** in bold black letters. A gasp ran around the room and everyone leaned forward intently. The Qualifiers were ultimate test of guardianship- if you passed them, you were an official guardian. You were ready to go out in the world and be assigned to your own human. You were ready to protect them with your very life.

And boy, was she ready.

Under Qualifiers, Char wrote the words, **Saturday 10:00 am**. Lure sighed. So much for sleeping in. But her disappointment was soon squelched by the pure fact that she was going to be taking her _Qualifier_. She grinned as Char took her customary place behind the podium.

"As you will remember, we left off our last lesson with Itex's by-half plan, and how Max and her flock stopped them and took down Itex."

Groaning, Lure pulled out her notebook. It was just like Char to mention something as incredibly exciting as the Qualifiers and then launch right into their next lesson. Char droned on, unaware of her class's disappointment.

"For a few years after this, everything was quiet; there were no more mutations going on, no more Itex. Max and her flock, however, were incredibly popular. After a couple months they disappeared, heading off to their own private island. To this day they live there, making the occasional visit to main society. You will remember that their last visit was only last month."

Lure nodded to herself; the media coverage had been incredible.

"This reason is mainly to assure governments around the world that they are, in fact, still there. If you will recall, Angel has a certain special ability that allows them to keep the location of their island amazingly secure. Yes, Tor?"

Tor, a thin, red-haired kid, said, "She's a psychic. She can read the minds and control the thoughts of others."

Char nodded. "These days, such developments are very rare, due to the refined mutation process. In the first mutants, surprising abilities cropped up everywhere. We'll study those next chapter. Anyways, as I was saying, for a few years, everything was quiet. The mutants were now free and began to astonish authorities worldwide with what they could do. Some, unfortunately, used their abilities for evil- not surprising, considering the way they were raised. These mutants joined together with some of the remaining scientists from Itex to form their own version of Itex- Xeti, which is Itex backwards. Xeti is still alive to this day.

"When the government realized what a threat Xeti posed to the world, they organized the mutants still working for good and made them into the first guardians. Then they started researching ways to create their own mutants, resulting in this new superrace of which you are a part of."

Char nodded to them all, as if being mutated against their will was an honor. Well, thought Lure, it's a heck of a lot better than being _normal_.


	3. Chapter 2

**Two reviews. Seriously? I'm updating this more than any other story and all I get it two freakin' reviews. *sighs***

**Gemini**

**Rudolphtherednoseddolly**

**Chapter Two**

Piper sauntered moodily along the sidewalk, kicking a stone in front of her. School sucked. She'd gotten another detention, this one for fighting at recess. It wasn't like it was her fault- Jimmy had called her a freak, and she punched the lights out of him. And _she_ had been the one staying after school with Mrs. Fredrick, who looked and smelled like a ham, while Jimmy recovered in the nurse's office. _And_ her mom had been 'too busy' to come pick her up, so she'd had to walk the two miles from school to her home.

She strolled up the driveway and let herself into the house, slamming the door behind her. "Mom?" she called. No answer.

She bit her lip. It always scared her, coming home to an empty house. Or what appeared to be an empty house.

Glancing out the window, she jogged to the basement. Taking the stairs two at a time, she broke into a sprint, running to a corner covered. Vaulting over them, she was stopped short by the wall. She reached down and pulled a hidden lever. With a click that made her wince a door popped open, seemingly from solid wall.

More cautious now, she peeked around the doorframe. No matter how many times she came here, it always surprised her just how big the hidden room was. _Rooms_, she corrected herself mentally, thinking of the small room hidden behind the hidden room (it was all kinda confusing), where there was a bed and enough supplies to keep two people alive for a month. Mom wasn't one to take any chances.

The main room was filled with scientific-y stuff that she couldn't even hope to name, much less know what they were used for. Mom bustled about, tweaking dials and mixing liquids together. Piper strolled in causally, throwing my book bag on a chair in the corner. She looked up.

"Piper?"

"The one and only."

She checked her watch and frowned. "You an hour and a half late." she said accusingly.

Piper sighed and sat down on a chair next to her book bag. "I got a detention, remember? You were supposed to pick me up."

Mom pursed her lips but said nothing. Piper rolled her eyes. It wasn't like she never lost her temper.

Suddenly, her expression cleared, replaced by one of joy. "Aha!" she said triumphantly, and bent over a small instrument, violently twisting the dials. After a minute or so she straightened and produced a flask of whitish liquid. After peering at it for a second, she nodded and poured the liquid into the instrument. Piper watched, already bored. Her mom was a scientist, and was always down here in the basement doing some sort of wacky experiment. Piper was pretty sure one of these days she was going to blow the house up.

The trouble was, she wasn't a legal scientist.

Her eyes searched out the one, small poster of the far wall that proclaimed their allegiance. It was red with a perfect white circle in the very center. Inside the circle was a black triangle. The bottom of the poster read **LONG LIVE XETI**.

Xeti was a secret organization that was aimed at taking down the government of the United States. The government was corrupt, as she'd been told again and again, and they needed to stop it before it did any more damage. Other than that, Piper wasn't exactly sure what Xeti did; mom was always very vague when she asked about it.

Of course, the government was very happy when it found out about Xeti, and people were being carted off to jail all the time, whether they were part of the organization or not. Hence the hidden room, and the hidden room II.

It was because of these arrests that Piper always feared for her mom. Her mom rarely went out in public, but whenever she did, Piper was so jumpy and twitchy that she started leaving me home, which didn't help with the whole 'nervousness' part. Last time she spent four hours imagining people crashing through the windows and shouting "FBI!". No such thing had happened, of course, but still.

After about a half hour more, her stomach reminded her it had been hours since lunch. Piper stood up and started to make her way out.

"No, wait, Piper. I'm almost done." mom called, not even looking up from the computer screen she was leaning over.

She stopped. Since when was mom done in the middle of the day? She usually stayed up half the night and slept in till noon.

Intrigued, Piper sat back down in the chair. True to her word, it was only about ten minutes later that she approached her, holding a metal tube.

"I've finished it!" she exclaimed, holding up the tube. Piper appraised it; it looked like a regular metal tube. Then she popped off the top and drew out something else.

Piper started sweating. "No, mom. Please?" she whimpered, shrinking away from her mother.

For she was holding a long, thin shot, full of a bluish liquid Piper knew all too well.

Mom looked down at me, face stern. "Piper, we all have to give up things for our country. I have given up my life; the least you can do is take a shot every once in a while."

This was more than taking a shot; this was 110% pure adrenaline. When injected into your veins, you went on the equivalent of forty cups of coffee for the next two or so days. And not only that; your muscle capacity skyrocketed. Last time she gave her one of these, Piper had bench pressed five hundred pounds. But that adrenaline didn't go into you willingly; it burned like fire all the way through you. And when it was out, you slumped for the next week or so.

"I have a math test tomorrow." she pleaded. Mom waved a hand.

"You can take it next week. Now, please, Piper. I don't have all day."

Reluctantly, hating it, Piper leaned forward and brushed the hair off her neck. Shots like this went straight into your spinal cord.

She sucked in my breath as she felt the cool metal go in. And then the burning began.

As tears welled up in her eyes, her mom said, "Long live Xeti."

"Long live Xeti." she agreed.


End file.
